Responsibility
by torikkusuta
Summary: Yahiko learns a lesson in responsibility when he volunteers to help care for a young gaijin child.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** The only thing I own in this whole story is Marie. Everything else belongs to Watsuki-sensei

**A/N:** This is my first Rurouni Kenshin fanfic, so constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Also, I will try to define any and all French used in this fic, and I apologize in advance for any errors, French is not my first language, so I'll probably make mistakes.

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_Chapter One_

Myojin Yahiko glared at the list in his hand, trying to will it to burst into flames before he reached the market. He sighed as he realized that no matter how hard he wished, the paper wouldn't vanish, and trudged down the road thinking about how he'd gotten himself into this mess. He and Kaoru had gotten into a tremendous fight that morning over breakfast, and the end result was that his breakfast had been dumped over his head. Now, as punishment for being a "brat", he would be completing the days shopping on his own. Not that Kenshin could have helped anyway, because Sanosuke had come by at some ungodly hour to take Kenshin gambling with him. That was part of the problem, of course, since it had meant that Kaoru had made breakfast. Cooking had never been Kaoru's strong suit, and Yahiko never missed an opportunity to remind her.

He was still grumbling mutinously while trying to get a good deal on daikon when he noticed the oddity. There was a small girl, maybe three or four years old meandering aimlessly around the market, with nary a parent in sight. Odder still, it was a gaijin child, with bright blonde hair and a clean Western-style dress. He ignored it for what the sight was, just an oddity. But nearly half an hour later, with the shopping almost done, he spotted the little girl again, still alone, and wandering into a rather busy section of the market. No one else seemed to be paying much attention to her, and Yahiko was beginning to become concerned. The kid was obviously lost, and if she kept wandering about like that, she could get hurt. He began to think that maybe he should take some action.

So, feeling rather clever and responsible for all his 10 years of age, he walked up to the little girl and began questioning her.

"Hey, are you lost?"

The girl stared blankly at him, her blue eyes puzzled.

"Do you understand me?" He asked her, slowly enunciating the words, all the while realizing his folly, expecting a gaijin to understand Japanese.

The girl continued to stare at him. Then she smiled and aped his words back at him. Well, she attempted to, at any rate.

The boy pushed his hair out of his face and sighed. _I must be out of my mind_, he thought. He picked up the bucket of foodstuffs he'd bought, and held out a hand to the little girl. "Come on, I'll help you find your parents," he said, trying to sound friendly, though the gods only knew what the girl thought he was saying. He would have been the first to admit his surprise when the chubby hand reached out and clasped two of his fingers, the only two she could wrap her hand around properly.

As there were no other gaijin in sight, Yahiko assumed that the most practical idea was to pay a visit to police headquarters and see if anyone had reported a gaijin child missing. He carefully lead the small girl through the busy streets, and she cheerfully babbled at him in her strange Western tongue.

* * *

As Yahiko entered the bustling police headquarters, he belatedly thought that perhaps a building that had hardened criminals coming into it all the time might not be the best place to bring a small child. However, he was intent on showing how responsible he was, and walked in with his shoulders squared.

Chief Uramura was surprised to see the youngest resident of the Kamiya Dojo walk through his doors. Even more surprising was the fact that there was a gaijin child trailing along next to the boy. When he shot a questioning glance at Yahiko, the only answer he got was, "I think she's lost. What should I do?"

For a moment, the chief was flabbergasted. Then, regaining his composure, he said, "First, you'll need to file a report, and then I will assign a few of our officers to begin looking for the child's parents. Have you been able to get the child to talk?"

"Well, she babbled the whole way here, but it's not like _I_ speak gaijin. I don't think she understands Japanese, either." Yahiko said, wondering if maybe he should have thought a bit more before bringing the girl straight to the police department. He could at least tried to figure out what the kid's name was.

"We'll just take a physical description for now," Chief Uramura said "Do you think Kamiya-san would be willing to help look after the girl until her parents are located?"

"Of course Kaoru won't mind!" Yahiko declared. Surely Kaoru couldn't yell at him for following the teachings of Kamiya-Kasshin Ryu. He was helping the helpless, after all.

"Then you should take her back to the dojo with you, and a police officer will be in contact as soon as the girls parents can be found. They're probably living in the gaijin colony in Yokohama." Chief Uramura tried to sound confident. He wasn't at all sure the girls family would be located. The gaijin very rarely came into Tokyo, and it would be unusual for them to carelessly leave behind a child unless something--untoward--had happened.

Yahiko took the little girl by the hand once more and cheerfully lead her to his home, completely unaware of the police chief's worries. He was sure that all would turn out well, and that caring for the girl in the meantime would be a cinch. After all, Kaoru was a girl, she would certainly know how to look after a kid.

* * *

Kaoru was beginning to get worried. Yahiko had been gone far too long at the market, even when factoring time in for him to drag his heels and grumble about the added chores. When she saw him walking up the road, she hid her sigh of relief by yelling, "Hey, Yahiko-chan! What took you so…"

She trailed off as she noticed the gaijin child walking with Yahiko.

"Yahiko, why is there a little girl with you?" she asked, sounding deceptively calm.

"Can we keep her? She's lost." Yahiko said, sounding for all he world as if he were asking to keep a stray kitten. "I went to the police chief, and he filed a report, and said we've gotta keep her until they can find her parents."

"She's not a pet, Yahiko. She's a little girl. This isn't going to be like looking after a cat or a dog."

"I _know_ that! But I found her, so aren't I responsible? She's gotta stay somewhere."

"Yahiko, do you even know _how_ to look after a little kid? What are you going to do when you're at lessons, or working at the Akabeko?"

"It can't be that hard! Besides, I was able to look after myself when _I_ was little"

Kaoru snorted at the idea of Yahiko thinking he was grown up, and then glanced at the little girl. She had to admit, the girl was adorable, with her strange hair color and horribly impractical dress. She bent down to examine the girl more closely.

"Mou. Does she have a name?"

"I don't know what to call her. She doesn't understand anything we're saying."

"Let's see if we can't get her to understand we need to know her name. Okay, little one. I'm Kaoru," The assistant-master of Kamiya-Kasshin Ryu said, while gesturing at herself. "Can you say 'Kaoru'?"

The little girl wrinkled her brow in concentration, then said "Roo?"

"Close enough," Kaoru said, trying hard not to giggle. She was_ not_ going to enjoy this. Oh, who was she kidding. The kid was_ cute_.

The little girl looked up at Kaoru and Yahiko, and said, "_Je m'appelle Marie_!," pointing at herself. Then she looked straight at Yahiko and said, "_Et tu, comment t'appelles tu_?"

Yahiko assumed that the girl was asking what _his_ name was and replied, "I'm Yahiko."

"Koko," The little girl agreed.

"And you're _Marie_," he said, stumbling over the foreign name.

"_Marie! C'est moi!_"

_To Be Continued..._

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**A/N**: Thank you so much for giving this a chance! Please leave a review, constructive criticism makes my day! I hope the French translations are helpful!

**French Phrases:**

Je m'appelle…" - My name is…

Et tu, comment t'appelles tu?- And you, what is your name?

C'est moi!- That's me!


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Dear lord, it's been awhile since I've updated! My apologies to anyone who's been waiting. As a side note, a reviewer brought up a question on whether I was using French or Spanish. This should all be French, unless I've seriously goofed up. My translations are as accurate as I can make them, seeing as French is kinda sorta my major. Also, HUGE thanks to one of my dorm buddies for going over this for me. You know who you are, you crazy English/Psych major, you!

**Disclaimer Type Thing:** I own nothing except for Marie (who is loosely based on my niece-ish cousin-type thing)

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_Chapter Two_

Never let it be said that Myojin Yahiko gave up easily. The boy had been attempting to cook something edible for nearly an hour. He sent a small-but-meaningful glare at Kaoru, who was busy keeping the little gaijin--Marie, he reminded himself--occupied. This was all Kaoru's fault for not being able to cook like a proper girl.

It had all started when little Marie had looked at Yahiko and Kaoru and said, "_J'ai faim! Je voudrais le dejeuner, s'il vous plait._" The statement had been accompanied by a loud rumble from the girl's stomach.

"Yahiko, I think Marie-chan might be hungry."

Yahiko immediately said, "Kaoru, you can't feed her! You'll poison her!"

"Fine," Kaoru answered, deceptively calm, "_You_ can cook lunch. I'll be looking around the storage room. I want to see if I can find something for Marie-chan to wear. That dress seems so impractical." So saying, she spun on her heel, and led Marie outside.

Now an hour later, Marie-chan was dressed in a tiny kimono that must have belonged to Kaoru when she was younger. Yahiko was hoping that his newest batch of rice wouldn't explode, and keeping an eye on the miso, which seemed to have taken on a life of its own. He hated to admit it, but he was completely out of his league. He secretly hoped that Kenshin would return to the dojo soon. Then he could shove off lunch-making duty on the helpful rurouni.

Of course, on a day like this, everything was working against him. And because it was his fault, he knew who would be cleaning up the kitchen today. And it wasn't going to be Kenshin. By the time he had a batch of rice that was neither too crunchy nor exploded, and something that vaguely resembled miso soup, little Marie-chan was practically in tears. She had spent at least twenty minutes tugging at the sleeve of Kaoru's kimono, saying "_J'ai faim_, Roo, _j'ai faim!_"

He had to admit it, though. He was very proud of himself. He would prove to Kaoru that looking after the little foreigner was _not_ going to be a problem.

"Here you go _Marie_-chan, yummy rice and miso!" Yahiko said, placing dishes and a set of chopsticks in front of her.

The girl looked puzzled. She turned to the older boy and asked, "_Qu'est-ce qui c'est?_" while holding one chopstick in each hand. She then proceeded to poke at her rice, playing with her food like any normal little child.

"No, Marie-chan," Kaoru said, intervening before the girl flung the rice out of her bowl. "Hold your chopsticks like _this_," she helped the little girl hold the chopsticks properly.

"_Mais, où est le couteau? Où est la fourchette?_" the child asked, with a quizzical look on her face. "_Je ne comprende pas._"

Yahiko attempted to show Marie-chan how to use her chopsticks to eat her rice. After a few tries that resulted in rice all down Marie's borrowed kimono, Yahiko admitted defeat and fed the girl himself. She handled the miso marginally better. Apparently western spoons were similar, and she knew how to use them. However, the spoon was much to wide, and quite a bit of soup ended up on her face and down the kimono front. There were also quite a few splatters of soup all over Yahiko's gi. Yahiko looked sheepishly between Kaoru and Marie-chan, wondering how on earth they would manage meal-times if they were all like this.

"Okay, Marie-chan, let's get you cleaned up," Kaoru said. "Yahiko, clean up the kitchen, it's a total mess. Remind me not to let you cook any more."

"At least I can make rice!" Yahiko retorted at Kaoru's retreating back.

The mess in the kitchen was stupendous. Glutinous globs of rice were stuck everywhere, and Yahiko was fairly certain that some sea-weed had ended up on the ceiling. Despite all of this, he was still proud. He'd cooked something edible, which was more than Kaoru was ever able to do. It didn't mean that he wouldn't complain about it, though. Yahiko was in the process of chipping away at pieces of rice that had stuck to a bowl when Kenshin finally arrived back at the dojo, supporting a rather drunk Sano. After carefully depositing the wasted freeloader on the engawa, he followed the angry grumbling sounds into the kitchen. Seeing Yahiko frantically trying to clean a bowl as quickly as possible, he asked, "Did Kaoru-dono cook lunch today?"

"No," the young boy replied miserably. "I did." He glared up at the older man and added, "You don't need to look so surprised."

"Oro! Did you and Kaoru-dono have another fight? You really shouldn't call her 'busu,' you know."

"Sorta something like that. We've, um, got a guest. Oh! Right, you still have to meet her!" So saying, Yahiko got up and lead Kenshin back out into the yard.

"Oy! Busu!" Yahiko yelled, "Where're you and Marie-chan? Kenshin's back!"

Now Kenshin was _very_ confused. Marie was most definitely not a Japanese name. He was even more confused, and not a little surprised to see Kaoru come around a corner leading a very small gaijin child along by the hand. What was more, the little girl appeared to be wearing a kimono. Most unusual.

"Kenshin, meet Marie-chan," Yahiko began proudly, "I found her. We don't know what happened to her parents, so the police are looking for them."

The little girl looked up at the rurouni, smiled brightly and said, "_Bonjour, Monsieur Tête-a-feu!_"

"Now would probably be a good time to mention that she doesn't understand Japanese," Yahiko added, wondering what on earth the little girl had said to Kenshin.

Kenshin, taking everything in stride, gave the child a polite bow and said, "Hello there, Marie-chan. It's very nice to meet you. I am Himura Kenshin."

Marie giggled, and responded with "_Tu sais que où sont mes parents? Je voudrais aller chez moi._"

This being one of the longest sentences Marie had ever uttered, Yahiko, Kaoru, and Kenshin looked at the grinning, hopeful child, and smiled back, wondering what in the world she'd just said.

* * *

French Translations:

_J'ai faim! Je voudrais le dejeuner, s'il vous plait _: I'm hungry! I would like lunch, please.

_Qu'est-ce qui c'est?_: What's this?

_Mais, où est le couteau? Où est la fourchette?_: Where is the knife? Where is the fork?

_Je ne comprende pas_: I do not understand.

_Bonjour, Monsieur Tête-a-feu!_: Hello, Mr. Flame Head!

_Tu sais que où sont mes parents? Je voudrais aller chez moi_: Do you know where my parents are? I would like to go home.

**Smallish A/N:** Next chapter, Sano's reaction. I've got some great insults I've learned lined up for this one! As always, constructive criticism is always appreciated.


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